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This evening the House Transportation, Housing & Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittee passed without amendment its FY 2019 appropriations bill.

While the chair and ranking members thanked each other for working together on the bill, Democrats were vexed by policy riders attached to the bill including a provision explicitly prohibiting funding for California High Speed Rail. Democrats were also expressed irritation with Republicans for moving forward with appropriations bills without providing overall annual spending figures for all twelve appropriations bills ("302b allocations"). Democrats argued it is difficult to judge spending bumps and cuts in one bill without understanding the impacts on funding for other agency appropriations bills. In spite of these concerns, the subcommittee voted to forward the bill to the full Appropriations Committee for consideration without any amendments.